Means for clamping cars in tipples.



W. K. MONROE.

MEANS FOR GLAMPING CABS IN TIPPLES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21, 1914 Patented 52111.26, 1915.

'7 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

s w. y v Mwrmj W. K. MONRGE. MEANS FOR omwrmuoms m TIPPLES.

W. K. MONROE.

MEANS FOR GLAMPING cAris m TIPPLES.

vAPPLICATION FILED MAR.21,1914.

Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

7 SHEETSSHEET 3.

W. K. MONROE.

MEANS FOR ULAMPING' CARS IN TIPPLES.

APPLICATION FILED HAIL 21,1914- lflfififififl. Patenm Jan. 26, 1915 7 BHEETQ-BHEBT 4.

wilmesmm:

W. K. MONROE.

MEANS FOR GLAMPING (mas IN TIPPLES.

APPLIGATION FILED MAR. 21.1914.

1,126,551 Patented $2111.26, 1915.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

hummer W. K. MONROE.

MEANS FOR GLAMPING CARS IN TIPPLES W. K. MONROE.

NS FOR GLAMPING CARS IN TIPPLEQ.

MBA

APPLICATION TILED MAR. 21, 1914 Patented Jan. 26, 1915 7 SHEETS-SHEET 7.

24: miarawy WILL K MONROE, O CLEVELAND, (PE-H0, ASFiIG'hl'fi MACHINERY; COMPAZNY, OF ULEG'EMND, OEIU."

Specification of Letters Patent. l f'l'iijfiil'il ffil Application filed March 21, 19%. Serial. No. 826,189.

To a?! whom 21*. may com- 22 a:

lie it known that I; W111i. it. Monroe, a

citizen oi the l'nitcd States, residing at the.

cit v oi (,lcveland, in the county of (luvs.- lioga and State of Uhio, have invented a new and useful Means for Clamping Cars in 'lipplcs. of which a clear and exact description, with references therein to drawings that accon'ipanv and make a part oi the specification, is hereinafter fully set forth.

The invention. belongs more especially to the class of mechanical instruments for the unloading of gondola. or open-top railway cars of their gross cargoes such as ore, coal, limestone and similar bulky or granular material, by first raising the car, within a tower-like structure, to a predetermined point, and then overturning the car before and along the inoutlrof a chute that leads to a vessel or other receptacle below. By reversing the raising process, the emptied car is lowered to the base of the tower, when it is moved therefrom outwardly on tracks provided for the purpose, and another car brought- .in for a like unloading.

An important feature of apparatus of this class is the eiiicient looking or clamping of the car upon the cradle or platform by which it is carried upand down through the tower during the unloading movements, and the invention now about to be set forth has to do with this feature alone of the appliances referred to.

In theaccompanying drawings Figure 1 is a tipple provided with the clamping means in. question. Fig. is an end elevation of a cradle with the claniping-bar einployed at the lower limit of its travel relative to the car to he clamped. Fig. 3 shows the relative position of two members of a series of clamping-bars when one of said members is in its initial engagement with. a car, and the other is idle. Fig. shows the relative position of the same members during the remainder of the dumping movement. Fig; 5 shows the relative positions of the'cradle, car and clamping-bars last re ferred to, at the moment of dumping. F 1g. 6 is a half-plan view of the cradle and clamping-bars shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail of the inner end connections of said bars. Fig. 8 is a plan view of Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the means provided for stopping or limiting the relative n'lovement of the cradle and the uprighh standards passing therethrougrh to which said inner ends of the clamping-bars are connected, as shown; also the anchorages of clamping-ropes en'iployed. Fig. 10 is an end elevation of Fig. f). Fig. 11 is a vertical cross sectional View the ends of a clamping-bar and, is a vertical cross-sectional view through the mid dle portion of such a har. ii 7 l3 and 14%, and Figs. l5 and 1c. severally .ustratc variant details of the invention. 1

In said figures 1 represents "rajme ivorli tower-structure, and 2 the usual is sha ed cradle to receive and carry ti car to h a loaded. 3 indicates said car throughout the drawings. A detailed (.l'ESCilpllUl'l oi the tower structure in which said radle operates, the means employed for raising and lowering said cradle and overturning the same with its loaded car and other usual features, are probably unnecessary in this specification, such features are only incl-- dental to the invention involved, are variablein their nature, and are sufliciently indicated in the drawings for an understanding of the same by those versed in the art. The invention, however, does depend upon and pertain. to that method of confining a car upon the'cradle which directly effected, not by positive and distinct clamping members in the ordinary significance of that phrase, but by a series of counterweighted chains or ropes so arranged that when the car is overturned, at its uplifted point, by the tilting of the cradle, the upper edges of the car-body will contact with and come into bearing against said chains, and the car .thereby be embraced by said chains and firmly secured in its place relative to the cradle. In employing this method of fastening the car in place; during the overturn and inner.

mg movement, it has been found necessary,

-in order to meet and prevent injurious crushing strains, by the chains against the car body, to interpose rigid cross-bars between opposite contact points of the cars edges and the embracing chain, and, the use ofsuclwbars and parts indirectly for this purpose, is now familiar in the art. In all prior uses of the sort, so far as I am aware, the rigid parts or bars employed have also been given the apparent or real function of clamps proper, and been denominated accordingly, although, in strictness, their oftice, in some cases, is for the n 5 part thus slidably connected to the cradle,

merely negative and passive, and simply to guard and serve as barriers against any untoward results of the clamping. Such clamping, in fact, is chiefly edected by the chains themselves.

The improvements I introduce are concorned solely with the providing of clampingbars, of the class referred to, that have the more limited functions last referred to, and whose chief merit is in the mode of their connection and operation with respect to the other parts and entireties involved. The improvement, accordingly, comprises essentially an arrangement, for each oi said chains employed in a given car-damper, 0t pivoted bars at, or 4:, with bearing surfaces 5 and 6 at each end respectively, with which the upper edges of the sides of the car will become engaged when the car is uplifted by the cradle, and, with the upper surface of which bars, said chains or ropes employed will. severally come into engagement as the car is clamped. As shown in the drawings, said bar-arrangement, in each case is made up of the normally horizontal bars i (or 4 having fiat surfaces 5 and ('3, on the under side of the ends of the bars in the same plane, one with the other, and :1 correspond ing series of poles or standards 7, 7, to which said bars are severally jointed at their inner ends in a manner to be more particularly (.csoribed.

A material element in car-dumpers or tipplcs of the kindunder consideration is the platform, commonly known as the cradle, on to which the car is brought for raising and overturning. This platform is usually right-angled in cross-vertical sec tion, being composed of a horizontal platform member, of the requisite dimensions to admit a car thereon, and an upright or vertical member, of similar proportions, along one side of the same. lhe structure is, accordingly, generally made up, as a frame- "work whose main components are a series of, say, it'our equi-spaced l. shaped ribs or knees S. For the purposes of the device in question, oppositely related vertical guides 9 are arranged in pairs on the inner face of said. upright cradle-member. Between the members of: those pairs the clamping-ropes 10, passfreely downward'to fixed anchorages ll, 11, on the towor-structurc cradle, or elsewhere below. Said guides are grooved or recessed on their inner opposite faces throughout their length, to receive, at a slidable tit, corresponding flange-like longitudinal projections or tongues 13, on either side of the standards 7, at the inner edges of their sides. By mating the portions H ot the standards T boxthe drawings (Fig. 8) the pivotal connection the cradle 2,

shaped, as shown in ample room, behind between the standards 7 and for said clampingropes and other details to be described, will be provided for. in order to efi'cctts'aid connection, a pair of parallelly arranged bracket-like projections 16, having eyes 17 to receive the connecting pin or pivot l8, are located at the front of said standards near their tops. A corresponding hole or eye is located near the inner ends oi the bars 4, and the latter are thereb fulcruincd upon the pins 18 between the brackets 16 and the sides of the shafts or standards 7 latter, at their upper ends, are left open and unobstructed tor the purpose. The inner ends of the bars 4 are curved downwardly in the storm of sheaveswhose centers severally coincide with the pivot or t'ulcruzn 18. The bars, themselves, are shown as doubloscored along their entire top and ends to guide the several clamping-ropes 1U withwhich they are to contact, Figs. 11, 12. The upright standards 7 are represented in the drawings as made up of two sections or portions, the upper portion 1%, containing said box-shaped sections, and the lower portion 15, which. is pole-shaped. Said sections are connected one to the other by bolt 19, and, as will appear, with the upper portion it slightly overhanging the lower portion 15 on the cradle side. (Figs. 3 and 10). The standards 7, thus formed, extend down ardly through the cradle T hey are of suitable length to have the jointed part of their upper ends project well above a car, when the car rests on the cradle, and the latter, and said standards, are in their normal positions. In such position the stand-- which 7 ards themselves rest upon. and are supported 7 at their lower ends by. fixed exterior supports 20, which are provided for the purpose at the base of the tower.

In order to actuate the bars, around their fulcrum points with r aspect to the upright standards with which they are connected, and thereby to elevate the bars against or out of interference with thelcars when the same are brought in upon the cradle tor,

unloading, the invention provides links "21 and El, respectively connected, at their upper ends, to the opposite sides or tacos of said bars at points thereon between said fulcrum and said cradle, and, at their lower ends, firmly joined together by the pins .22. These pins extend through and project from the outer face of said links, in each case, so that their projecting ends may enter and be movable between the upright parallel guides 23 and 23 that are located, for the purpose, ,on the inner sides of the boxsha 'ied portion of the standards 7, before explained. The length or degree of the actual movement of said ends and the links.

to which they pertain, is.- determined, of course, by the extent of the desired movementot the bars around their fulcrurns and the relative location, with respebt to said modem frilorums, oi the point of attachment of the links to the The difference in length between the lever-arms involved is gross enough, in any case, to insure that such linlr-i'novemeni will he a comparatively limited lo the ermngeiiient illustrated in lfig. 7, r instance, the calculated move- :oeni; of the. links, in'orcler to elevate the outer of the bars to the angular position d meal by she broken dotted lines of th me, Will be no greater than the dis tones os'l'ween the dotfisol lines 33-0 which the opposite arrows, in the figure, respectively, point and pertain. it is evident that when sullioienl, force is applied to this stirrup-- like arrangement of she links 23. and 213-, to carry the some; downwardly, the leversrnis, which, together oonslzituto said hers, Will be correspondingly actuated, and the longer of the two arms, or the olsoipiiii bur proper in each case, Will be elevated. to the predetermined. sngle as the shorter arm is depressed and carried downwardly by said force Also, that, when such force, having been so exerted, is at length relaxed and Withdrawn, the weighl of said longer-- arm, or her 4;, under the conditions, will tend to carry said srm down, around it pivotal point, to its original position and glace. ll 1e device in question, accordingly, utilizes the Weight; and necessary inovemenl of said cradle, as ii; sinks to or rises from its normal.

place or position, for and this very linliactuating force, and, to this end, provides lirin ilQOlE-lllfifihorizontal promotions 24 said cradle, inlerinedistely of each pair of said links, and at point on the cradle that is in elinemeni, with and coincides with the position of the pins 22, when the cradle, -and said pins and links are the lowest, or normallimit of their +@rsvel. In this manner, when a car has been dumped and the cradle is descending with. the some to is starting point at the foot of the tower, said hook is sure to encounter the crossqains 22, as soon as the feet of the standards '5 meet and are stopped by the exterior support 20, and, b" its superior weight to thereby carry the links downward through the short remainder of the descent,

and thereby. depress the shorter arms and correspondingly revise the longer arm of the clamping-bars oil from the our and into positive positions shove fihe some as shown in Fig. 1.

In order to check an undue descent of the bars through and below the cradle when not in bearing" across the top of the car, and the cradle is moving" upwardin the tower, any suitable means may lie employed for l iinitingtho freedom of their movement in this respect. In the drawing ioh a means is shown in the stop 25 extending outwardly from the vertical member of the cradle, and lo he carried into engagement with the lower end of the inwardly overhanging boxshsped portion 14- of the standards 7. In order to counterpoiselhe Weight of the longer arms of said hers when not in coir tact with a, car, and prevent any ui'xdos' hle lifting ell'cct by them lhl'o oli the 'ler arms of the some, and, also to dolirulzely limit the downward redial movement of said arms around their iulcrums, l [MTV/hi6 a rope and shows sysieui, as indicated, which attached at one end to said 'louiping-bsrs by ropes 26, and alter p9. to and over sortable pulls or sheaves lorlllll'lllti n. 21 suspended ocia'teiwveiglit 27. Further functions of said s stem are provided for by the stops to the upu'nrd travel of the counterweight, and consequent downward movement of the firm to which said Weight opposed. Said system will also operate to moderate she iforeo of the fall of said burs, around their pivots, When the hooks 2% are released from engagement ith the pins 212 of said actuating links 21 and 21 ll. will be found good practice to so fix the length of the rope, used in said system, in relation to the location of the slop and other relevant conditions, that the outer or forward end of. said clamping,

oars when at said limit of their downward travel. Will hole ample clearance for the cars to be clamped and will be lower than the inner end ol: bearing surfaces 5 ol such her, all as indicated in Fig.

it has been explained how, by and upon ihc descenfi ol' the :riulle for s new car, the clamping lfilllS, by reason of the arrangement covered by the invention, automatically break their contact with the empty .11 and assume the proper position for 11undling the next, or loaded czar. Such posi tion, in relzitiou to the entire apparatus, is illustrated in Fig. 1, and, as to the various details involved, by others of the figures.

As the cradle starts upward with the loaded car, the pins 22,:incl their link con uections, are, atonoo, relieved from the weight of the cradle exerted through the hook 2i, and the outer levermrnis of all the olnnugirg-lmrs are thereupon "Free to full lily their own weight through the predetermined distance permitted by their counterweight systems into the horizontal positions shown in Fig. 2. At that some instant the c'adle will bring fiho car up into engagement with the bearing surfaces 5 (i, am, thereafter, and in this relation of the several parts Will continue to hoist to the point of overturning, As soon as this lotin? movcnu-nt begin the.clampingiopcs and I do not wish to limit myself to the" precise manner of embodying the invention as depicted in the drawings; such variations, for instance, would include other lever or clamping-bar actuating connections than links, indeed, an arrangen'icnt instead of links, that is more in the nature of a mere integral prolongation of the inner end or short lever arm of the bars, and with which an engagement with the cradle is to be effected, and, such engagement itself,v

may be conceived as possible, and within my claims, although the positive engaging parts are on the lever-actuating members instead of on the cradle, or are on, or. project directly from said inner end for the purpose. Such variations are disclosed in Figs. 13 to 16, where, in Figs. 13 and 1%, instead of the links 21 and 21, movably connected at one end to the standards 7, and, at the other, to the inner or shorter end of the fulcrumed bars l, and the projections 24; to engage with and actuate the same, I substitute, as a levenactuating arrangement in the connection, radial or hanger-bars $29, 29, pivoted, at one end, to lugs 30, on the inner side of the upright member of the l.- shaped cradle, at points thereon above the fulcrum points 18, when the cradle 2, and standard 7 are in their normal static places, and at each side, respectively, of the inner or lever-arms of the-bars 4. Said hangen bars 29, are forked at the other or lower ends, to embrace trunnion-like. projections 31 on said lever-arms, when brought into contact with the same .by the descent of the cradle, and thereby to carry said leverarms downwardly to a predetermined-degree.

I above the cars so that, when all parts are in their normal positions relatively, the

further arrangement is disclosed in" Figs. 15 and 16, wherein the lugs 30 carry 2th bars, themselves, will point diagonally upward, as indicated by the dotted outlines of such a bar, marl'cd Normal, in Fig. 3. Such limitation may be fixed either by permanently fastening the sustaining ropes 26, of the requisite length for the purpose, a't thepoint 28, or, the rope being of the full length indicated in Fig. 2, by transferring the stop 28, shown in full lines in the figure, to and permanently locating the same immediately above the normal place for the counterweight 27 therein. In this form of the invention any direct lever-actuating means are not required since the limited length of rope at one end of the bars, and the standards at the other end will, together, hold the bars at a sulficient height to afford the necessary clearance for the cars as they enter the cradle, and the need of said lever-bars themselves, will disappear in consequence.

in actual opcratiom'a s the loaded car and its supporting cradle, in this form of the device, move upward through the tipple, the inner edges of the car body will first encounter the inner end of said bars near the fulcrum point and carry the bars vertically upward at said inner end, until the outer edges of the car meet the forward ends of the bars and a full engagement with said bars occurs. The means of suspending theouter end being of a nature to leave the bars free for the purpose, the

car can now be carried upward in said engagcmcnt, through all the ensuing tipphng movements. Of course, the relative heights of the opposing ends of the clamping bars,

when the latter, in this form of the invention, are in their normal place, may be reversed, if desired, by varying, to the requisite degree, the relative dimensions of the sustaining members of the respective ends.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and Wish to se-. cure by vLetters-Patent is: i

1. In a car-tipple having a cradle ljor elevating and lowering the cars therethrough with a vertical. member lever-actuating members connected to the inner ends of said bars, and means on said beneath the at one side of the same, the combination of sheaves at the upmaaeeo cradle for engaging the lastnaniedmembers at a predetermined part of the cradles travel, substantially as shown and described. 2. The combination, in a car-tipple, of a 5 vertically moving L-shaped cradle, sheaves on the uppen part of the tipple, clamping rope's anchored to said cradle at their ends and bxtcndingnpwardly along the upright member of the same to and around said sheaves; connterweights attached to the other, or unanchored, ends of said ropes; a series of upright'standards movably connected tothe upright members, in front of said ropes, and freely extending through the cradle below fixed supports for and in alinement with said standards beneath the cradle; a series of clamping bars pivotally connected to the standards and extending cross-wise of the cradle; links connected to the inner ends of said bars, and means on the cradle for engaging said links at and during a predetermined part of the cradles downward travel through the tipple, substantially as shown and described.

The combination, in a car-tipple, of a vertically moving Lshaped cradle, sheaves at the upper part of the tipple, clamping ropes anchored to saidcradle at their ends and extending upwardly along the upright 3o member of the same to and around said sheaves; connterweights attached to the other,'or unhnchored, ends of said ropes; a series of upright standards movably connected to said upright member in front of said ropes and freely extending through the cradle; fixed supports :tor and in alinen'ient with said standards beneath said cradle; a series oi clamping-bars pfvo'tally connected to the standards and extending cross-wise of the cradle, together with suitable means, on said cradle and the inner ends of said bars, for becoming and being in engagement, one with the other, at and during a predetermined part of the cradles downward travel through the tipple, to bars upwardly around their fulcrums, substantially as shown and described.

The combination, in a. car tippie having an l.sha'pcd cradle therein and clamping ropes passing upwardly therethrough along the inner face of the vertical member of saidcradle, of a series of upright standards on said face, infront of said ropes, adapted normally to pass through said cradle below;

actuating projections on with said ends when extend through said to anchors ges thereby actuate said d seats for and in alinement with said stgindards beneath the cradle; a series of clamping bars, for the top-edges of a cars body, fnlcrumed, the standards, together with suitable means for efiecting an engagement between said inner ends and said cradle, at and during a predetermined part ofthe cradles downward travel, comprising, essentially, bar'- the cradle, above and in alinement with said inner ends when said bars are in their clamping'positions with respect to a car, will bring said projections into engagement the cradle descends to, and said eradle and standards are at, their normal places at the base of. the structure,

substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination in a car-tipple, of an L-shaped cradle; a series of upright standards sli'dably connected to the vertical member of the cradle and adapted normally to cradle below; fixed seats for and in line with the standards at the base of-the tipple; a series of clampingbars fulcrumed near their inner ends to said standards; sheaves on said tipple above the limit of travel therein of the cradle and in alinement with said standards; clamping repes'counterweighted at one end and extendingover said sheavesand downwardly overturn ng point.

below the v of the cradle and in the same planes, respectively, as said sheaves, clamping-bars an standards together with suitable means for efiiecting an engagement betweenthe inner ends of said bars and the cradle, atland during a predetermined part of the cradlesdownward travel, comprising, essentially, bar-actuating projections on the cradle, above and in alinement with said inner ends when said bars are in their clamping'positions with respect to a car, and, at a point which will bring said'projections into engagernent with said ends when the cradle descends to, and said cradle and standards are at, their normal places at the base of the structure, substantially as shown and described.

w nn- K. Mormon.

in presence of- C. S. MALTBIE,

L. P. L'LPPS.

near their inner ends to.

and, ate pointwhich V 

